"P" Word Origins

princess

Old French

From Old French princesse, formed from prince plus the feminine suffix -ess.

principal

Latin

From Old French principal, from Latin prīncipālis ("first, foremost").

principality

Origin

From Middle English principalte, principalite, from Anglo-Norman principalté, Middle French principalté, from Late Latin prīncipālitās, from Latin prīncipālis (“principal”) + -tās. Equivalent to principal + -ity.

principally

Origin

From principal plus the adverb suffix -ly.

principalship

Origin

From principal + -ship.

principicide

Origin

From Latin prī̆nceps, prī̆ncipis + -cide.

principle

Latin

From Latin prīncipium, "beginning, foundation," from prīnceps ("first, chief").

principled

Origin

From principle plus the adjective-forming suffix -ed.

Pringle

Middle English

* (surname): Habitational, from a place near Stow Roxburghshire, formerly called Hop(p)ringle, from Middle English hop (“enclosed valley”) + a name of Old Norse origin composed of the byname Prjónn (“pin, peg”, cognate with English preen) + an unidentified second element. * (borough of Pennsylvania): Named in honor of Thomas Pringle. * (town in South Dakota): Started as a stage stop on the Sidney-Custer Trail, operated by Henry Pringle.

print

Latin

From Middle English prenten, an altered form of emprinten ("to imprint"), ultimately traced back to Latin premere ("to press").

printer

Origin

From print plus the agent suffix -er.

printing

Origin

Formed from print plus -ing.

printout

Origin

Formed as a noun from the phrasal verb print out.

printseller

Origin

From print + seller.

printshop

Origin

From print + shop.

prion

Origin

From (a reordering of) the initial letters of proteinaceous infectious particle. Coined by American neurologist and biochemist Stanley B. Prusiner in 1982.

prior

Latin

A learned borrowing from Latin prior, meaning "earlier" or "former" — related to before, fore, and former.

prioress

Origin

From Middle English prieresse, priorasse, priores, prioresse, priorisse, priouresse, priures, priuresse, prowres, pryoras, pryorys, pryowresse, from Medieval Latin priōrissa and Old French prioresse, prieuresse; equivalent to prior + -ess.

prioritise

Origin

From priority + -ise.

prioritize

Origin · 1967

Formed from priority plus -ize; first recorded in American government jargon around 1967, and long criticized by usage purists as bureaucratic.

priority

Latin

From Old French priorite, ultimately from Latin priōritās, built on prior ("earlier").

priory

Anglo-Norman

From Anglo-Norman priorie, related to prior.

prisca

Origin

Latin feminine form of the cognomen Prīscus, from prīscus (“former, ancient, old-fashioned”).

Priscilla

Latin

A feminine diminutive of the Roman cognomen Prīscus, from Latin prīscus ("former, ancient").

prise

Origin

From the Middle English noun prise (“taking of something”), from Old French prise (“seizure; taking; capture”), past participle of prendre (“to take”). Doublet of prize.

prism

Late Latin

From Greek prísma, "something sawn," via Late Latin prisma.

prison

Latin

From Old French prison, ultimately from Latin prehensio, "a seizing" — the same root that gives us "prehension" (grasping).

prisoner

Old French

From Old French prisonier, built from prison plus the agent suffix -er — literally "one who is imprisoned."

priss

Origin

A back-formation from "prissy" — English sometimes builds a shorter root word after the longer adjective already exists.

prissy

Origin · 1890

First recorded in the 1890s, likely blending "prim" with either "precise" or "sissy" — probably popularized by the American writer Joel Chandler Harris.

pristine

Latin

From Latin pristinus, meaning "former" or "original" — related to the idea of something being in its very first, unaltered state.

Pritam

Sanskrit

From Sanskrit प्रीतम (prītama, "beloved").

Pritchard

Welsh

Anglicized from Welsh "ap Rhisiart" ("son of Richard").

prithee

Origin

A contraction of "I pray thee" — an archaic way of politely asking someone to do something.

Prithvi

Sanskrit

Borrowed from Sanskrit पृथ्वी (pṛthvī, "the vast one"), an epithet for Earth.

priti

Origin

Borrowed from Sanskrit प्रीति (prīti).

privacy

Origin

Built from "private" plus the noun-forming suffix -cy, following the same pattern as "accuracy" from "accurate."

private

Latin

From Latin privatus, "set apart" or "not belonging to the state," from privus meaning "one's own." A doublet of "privy," which comes from the same root.

privateer

Origin

From private + -eer probably after volunteer, shortened from the original term "Private Man-of-war".

privation

Origin

Inherited from Middle English privacioun, from Middle French privation, privacion, from Old French privacion, from Latin prīvātiō; compare French privation. See private.

privatization

German · 1940

Modeled on the German word Privatisierung, and popularized in English by economist Sidney Merlin in the 1940s when discussing post-war German economic policy.

privet

Origin

Unknown origin, but possibly connected to prime.

privilege

Latin

From Latin privilegium, originally meaning a law made for or against a specific individual — from privus ("private") plus lex ("law").

privy

Latin

From Old French privé, "private," from Latin privatus — the same root as the modern word "private," of which "privy" is a doublet.

prix

French

Borrowed from French prix, meaning "price" or "prize" — related to the English word "price."

Priya

Sanskrit

From Sanskrit प्रिया (priyā, "beloved").

Priyanka

Origin

From Hindi प्रियंका (priyaṅkā).

prizable

Origin

From prize + -able.